LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Firefighters were on high alert Tuesday as winds gusting up to 50 mph threatened to flare up hot spots from three Southern California wildfires and help fuel others.
A 10-acre fire broke out shortly before 11 a.m. in Devore in San Bernardino County near Interstate 15, temporarily closing the northbound lanes of the highway that connects Las Vegas to Southern California, fire officials said. The fire was contained by 2 p.m. and one firefighter was slightly injured, spokesman Ron Avanzolini said. The cause was under investigation.
Santa Ana winds blew through Southern California, reaching up to 50 mph in some areas by mid-morning. The National Weather Service said the winds, which tapered off by late afternoon, could continue through Wednesday.
The winds and forecasts of low humidity prompted the weather service to issue a red flag warning until Wednesday afternoon. The warning advises that conditions could lead to explosive fire growth.
Firefighters, meanwhile, surrounded an 1,100-acre fire in rugged terrain in the hills above Burbank, said Capt. Ron Bell of the Burbank Fire Department. Crews remained on the scene to tamp down hot spots from the blaze that started Thursday.
Residents who evacuated about 70 homes in Sunset Canyon were able to return over the weekend.
The region's largest blaze, the 24,175-acre Topanga Fire, was 95 percent contained, with full containment expected by Tuesday night, officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The blaze destroyed three homes.
Inspector Ron Haralson of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said he was worried about the weather forecast.
''You have to have a watchful eye over the whole area right now,'' he said.
In an unrelated development, Simi Valley police officers arrested a man Monday after spotting smoke in the hills along the city's southeast border. The 25-year-old Simi Valley man struggled with an arresting officer before he was taken into custody. The Ventura County Fire Department's investigators found that a small blaze had been started by an arsonist.
Farther east, in San Bernardino County, a 935-acre fire was 85 percent contained, said Carol Beckley, spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service.
The fire was burning in steep, rugged terrain in and around San Bernardino National Forest, about 70 miles east of Los Angeles.
